Mind Over Matter
by Pluv143000
Summary: Bethany Thawne was never the 'it' girl. But after the particle accelerator exploded, she was everything she had ever wanted to be. Her physical transformation baffled many, but it was the change in her personality that worried her brother. Desperate and worried, Eddie asks Barry for his help to try and get through to his sister who he barely recognizes anymore. Slow Burn Barry/OC
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Flash or it's characters. Just Beth.**

 **Her faceclaim is Emily Osment.**

* * *

"I wasn't the only one affected, was I?" Barry asked Dr. Harrison Wells.

"We've been searching for other metahumans like yourself," the doctor answered.

Though Dr. Wells statement seemed to answer Barry's question, there was still so much more to it. The things that weren't said spoke volumes. Another possible metahuman had already been located by STAR Labs. This specific person had yet to actually exhibit any superhuman abilities but after the girl fainted during the storm, she did seem to change.

* * *

 **Nine Months Ago—Before the Particle Accelerator Explosion**

Bethany Thawne arrived in Central City exactly two days ago. The young, timid girl hadn't done much since her arrival besides set up her room at her brother's apartment, that he kindly let her stay at, and wandering the streets trying to find a decent bookshop that could satiate her reading appetite. Between having zero luck in her endeavors and the fact that it was starting to rain, she decided to head back home. She slipped her headphones on and plugged the audio jack into her phone that she kept in the front pocket of her ridiculously oversized hoodie before continuing on her way. At some point, she must have made a wrong turn and happened upon a nightclub. Everyone standing outside in line waiting for the bouncer to let them in seemed so perfect. Tall, beautiful girls that made her feel so inferior and equally attractive guys that would never give her a second look.

Beth knew she should've kept her head down and focused on the sidewalk in front of her but something made her glance up at the people she would never fit in with. Before she knew it, her foot got caught on the edge of the uneven concrete and sent her sprawling forward. Graceful was never an adjective used to describe her. The young girl caught herself before she completely face-planted but enough damage had already been done. Her horn-rimmed glasses skittered across the pavement making her vision slightly blurry but she didn't need to see the crowd right now. The laughter was obnoxious. The jeers humiliating. It didn't even matter that she had no idea who these people were nor did they know who she was. At that moment, the only thing that mattered was the fact that Beth was the center of attention again and for one of the worst reasons. They're laughing at me, she thought, mocking me.

Beth hurried to stand, making sure she grabbed her glasses. She pulled her hood over her unruly, blonde, corkscrew curls and made a mad dash for it. Once she was around the corner and down the street a few blocks she allowed herself to catch her breath. She was naïve to think the world out of high school was going to be different and here she was in her sixth year of college, working to get her doctorate in psychology and people were still the same. If anything she had the basis of a possible dissertation in that thought alone.

Eventually, she made it to her brother's apartment building after finding a street that seemed familiar. She was just about to grab the handle when an odd wave rippled overhead. Beth glanced in the direction it came from before noticing the rainstorm started to get worse. With another look in the direction, the wave came from she went to open the lobby door again. Before she could open the door, a dizzy feeling overcame her causing her to collapse and all she could do was lie on the wet concrete as she heard people scream in surprise around her. A man came into the corner of her vision and knelt down to check on her before everything went black.

* * *

 **I know, I know. I really shouldn't be starting another story when I still have to fix up my Hunger Games ones and continue my Teen Wolf one but I had to. Don't be surprised if you see a The 100 fic soon either. With the start of the new season, I'm getting all my Bellamy feels back...**

 **I don't know when I'm going to post the second chapter for this but hopefully, it's sooner rather than later. I have Rush Week for my sorority coming up so if my updates don't come this month, hopefully in March.**


	2. Chapter 1

Cisco sat in the labs twiddling his thumbs. Barry had just saved some people from a burning building before leaving for his day job. He had a real knack for the hero thing. But Barry wasn't the one plaguing his thoughts at the moment. Not that long ago, Dr. Wells had explained to Barry how the three of them had been searching for anyone else affected by the explosion. That they had been searching for other metahumans. But, Dr. Wells left out the part about how they had already located a possible metahuman. One who happened to be at the same hospital Barry was at when he was in a coma. One who just so happened to wake up from their coma about three months ago.

Bethany Thawne.

Ever since she had woken up, S.T.A.R. Labs had been keeping track of her, specifically to see if she displayed any special abilities like Barry had. Yet, in the past few months everything seemed normal. No bursting into flames or freezing someone solid. Everything in her life was completely normal. So much so that Cisco found himself doubting her normalcy.

There was only one thing about her that was significantly different. Her appearance.

When the group of scientists, which included just Dr. Wells, Caitlin and himself, had started tracking her, they had looked her up to get a little bit of a back-story. She was a highly accomplished, young woman. She had graduated with her bachelor's degree in psychology after only three years and soon after moved on to her master's degree which she completed in a timely fashion as well. But in all of her online pictures, which were far and few between, she looked kind of, well, nerdy. She had frizzy, wild, curly hair that almost put Annie to shame and thick, dark horn-rimmed glasses that took up a large portion of her face. In some of her more personal photos, she wore tons of baggy clothing that made it hard to tell what was underneath. Not that Cisco was a creeper like that but the choice in clothing made her seem a little insecure. In a way it was odd, a self-conscious psychologist. Yet, in recent photos of herself that were taken after she woke up she looked much different. Her blonde hair was usually straightened and the glasses seemed to be gone for good. The baggy clothes had also disappeared as she wore clothes that were more formfitting. In conversations that the team had monitored she seemed to have an air of confidence that wasn't quite there before. She was different but not in the way that they were looking for.

Cisco personally thought that Wells should tell Barry about Beth, so when the doors to the main area opened and the man in the wheelchair came through Cisco had just the opportunity to tell him so. "Dr. Wells," the young man started to ask his boss, "Why didn't you tell Barry about Bethany?"

The older man stopped in his tracks and faced the engineer, "Well Cisco, I didn't think it was a good idea to overwhelm him at that moment. He was already so focused on Clyde Mardon and reining him in that I didn't want to throw out the fact that there was another possible metahuman out there. Especially since we have no definitive proof that she was affected by the particle accelerator explosion like Barry was."

Cisco nodded at his boss's reasoning before adding, "I think that we should tell him. I mean so far we know that both Barry and Clyde Mardon were hit by the storm that night and though that isn't exactly a pattern since it is only the two of them I think it's worth him knowing about. Especially since we may end up having to do something about her if she ends up like Mardon."

Dr. Wells nods his head in agreement before saying, "I'll consider it Cisco. Thank you for your input."

Bethany Thawne stepped out of the cab that had pulled up in front of the Central City precinct. Just minutes ago she had called her brother Eddie and asked if they were still on for lunch. Ever since she woke up from her accident the two haven't spent much time together. Of course Beth knew why they hadn't. Eddie being the perfect person he is, helped pick up some shifts for his partner Detective West after Beth had woken up from her coma. Detective West had apparently had someone that he cares about get struck by lightning the same night she did which, in her opinion, was a very odd coincidence. But not only was it the extra shifts that had commandeered his attention but a lot of his attention had also been shifted towards Detective West's beautiful daughter, Iris. Apparently they had gotten pretty friendly during the time when Beth was out of commission. Some may think that it a little off-putting that Eddie had become so preoccupied so soon after his younger sister had woken up from a coma but it didn't bother Beth much. In fact, the alone time had given her some much needed relaxation and thinking time.

In the time since her accident, Beth had dropped out of college. She was content with her master's degree and though she wouldn't be able to be a practicing psychologist, she was still able to conduct research. Being in a coma though really did set back her timeline though. A half a year had gone by during her coma and she couldn't find many places willing to hire someone who just checked out of a hospital room. Luckily for her, Beth was able to find a job as a bartender at a club where she got to let loose while only playing Dr. Phil for depressed loners every once in a while. It wasn't a career, just a job. It wasn't that she felt bad for mooching off of Eddie and staying at his place, she just wanted some independence and the quickest way to achieve it was to get some money to get her own place.

As she walked in the precinct doors, she shot Eddie a quick text saying that she was here. He replied that he was up in the forensics lab and to wait a few moments. She strutted through the lobby area towards the front desk to ask the man sitting there where the forensics lab was. Lately, she hasn't been the most patient person.

A few wolf whistles were heard, most likely from some of the rookie patrolmen that were cycling shifts. She couldn't blame them though. She knew that the tight sundress was incredibly flattering to her body shape. The same body that she used to hide from the world all the time. Well, no more hiding.

"Hi," Beth started and the officer at the desk looked up. The man visibly swallowed at the sight of the woman in front of him and tried desperately to keep his eyes on her face as she leaned on the desk. Her voice took on a calm tone which was hypnotizing to anyone who heard it. "I'm here to see my brother, Eddie Thawne. He said he was in the forensics lab. Where is that exactly?" The man robotically answered her. Beth couldn't help but giggle at how easy it all was now. She thanked him and shot him a wink before heading up the stairs that he had mentioned, ignoring all the eyes that followed.

Finally, at the top of the stairs, because there was a lot of stairs, she took a deep breath and flicked her pin straight hair away from her face. She opened the door in front of her and entered into the room. Everyone, who was just Eddie, Iris and a guy she didn't recognize, looked in her direction.

"Beth!" Iris shouted happily before coming over to give the other girl a hug which she returned. The blonde woman smiled at her friend's excitement towards seeing her. It's not like Iris didn't see her practically every day.

"Beth, I thought I told you that I would meet you in the lobby. How did you even get up here?" Eddie asked with a sigh. Beth chuckled slightly at his exasperation towards her antics.

"Don't worry about it Eddie, I have my ways." That did nothing to reassure him. He sighed again, this time running a hand over his face.

"Oh," Iris exclaimed suddenly, "I forgot that you two don't know each other." She motioned towards the other guy who had been in the room, watching our exchange. "This is Barry Allen, he's my best friend and pretty much like my brother." Beth watched Barry's face fall slightly at the comment and raised her eyebrow slightly at him in response. Iris then turned to Barry and motioned towards the other girl. "Barry this is Bethany Thawne, she's Eddie's little sister." The young blonde stepped forward to shake his hand.

"It's nice to meet you Barry. I'm kind of surprised that we haven't met already," Beth said politely with a kind smile.

Barry smiled in return and gave her a firm handshake, "Nice to meet you too. Though you probably haven't met me since I just woke up from a coma a little over a week ago." Beth's eyes widened considerably.

"A coma?" she asked surprised. "What a coincidence! I just woke up from a coma a few months ago too." Barry's eyebrow furrowed at this new piece of information.

"Really? The night of the particle accelerator explosion?" Beth nodded. "That's really weird, me too. Huh?" Just then everyone in the room seemed to remember their plans.

"Well, Barry and I better get going. Simon Stagg's speech should be starting soon and we should've been out of here about five minutes ago. I'll see you tomorrow at work, right Beth?"

Beth waved her off, "Oh yeah I'll see you then. And it's fine Eddie and I are going out for lunch anyway." The group left the lab and the precinct and started to head their separate ways. Beth turned around and shouted to the retreating pair, "It was nice meeting you again Barry."

Lunch ended up being cut short when Eddie got a call about an armed robbery. Just because the two siblings went to go grab a quick bite to eat didn't mean that Eddie was free for the day. He was just on break.

As Eddie picked up the phone, Beth concentrated on the voice on the other end of the call. The robbery was at the Man of the Year ceremony for Simon Stagg. It was the same place where Barry and Iris had gone. Eddie excused himself, "Duty calls."

"Of course! I've got work soon anyway," Beth responded. Eddie took off in his car to go to the crime scene. Despite what she had told her brother, Beth didn't have work for another few hours and her curiosity was eating away at her. She flagged a taxi down and told him the right address. Soon she spotted all the commotion outside the building where the ceremony had taken place. "You can stop here," she told the cab driver. The driver pulled off to the side before looking at her expectantly waiting for her to pay. She smiled at him. "Thank you for the ride. I don't need to pay," she told him using her 'charmspeak' before getting out of the car. He didn't argue with her and pulled away once she exited the taxi. Beth couldn't help but laugh again. Life was good after her accident. Before, she was invisible and now she could bend people to her will.

Beth stood on the sidewalk for a minute listening for anything out of the ordinary. She made her way around the building, careful to avoid any officers. She might have mastered hypnotizing one person at a time but any more people and her charms faltered. As she made her way into an alley that led to the back of the building, she heard a something. It wasn't clear what they were saying so Beth presumed she was hearing someone's muddled thoughts. Whoever's thoughts it was seemed to be right around the corner but she knew that she had to get to them soon because their thoughts were faint and groggy.

To Beth, her other ability of reading minds was a major invasion of privacy, but she didn't really care. It made it really easy to win at poker when she could tell who was bluffing. But, being able to hear everyone's thoughts had its downfalls, like when some tween girl was obsessing over One Direction or the creepy guy on the corner was having a disgusting wet daydreams about pretty much _every_ girl who walked by. Luckily, she was able to block out thoughts due to some practice and only read minds when she wanted or needed to. As she rounded the corner she could see someone lying on the ground. Over the short fence, she could see it was Barry lying by the building's trash compactor. Quickly discarding her impractical three inch heels and hopping the fence, Beth landed gracefully on her feet. She hurried over to the unconscious man and shook him lightly trying to wake him up.

"Barry. Barry. Wake up Barry," Beth tried gently but nothing seemed to be working. She let out a frustrated sigh. "Barry!" she tried a little louder. Right after she shouted, Iris came running into the alley.

"Oh my god, what happened?" she asked Beth. The blonde shook her head in response.

"I don't know," Beth said, "I followed Eddie to the scene and when I got here I found him like this." Of course Beth left out the part about how she could hear his thoughts. "I just got here about a minute ago and have been trying to wake him up." Together the two girls propped Barry up against the trash compactor and Iris decided to try her hand at waking him up.

Within a few tries Barry finally opened his eyes. "Barry," Iris started, "I turned around and you were gone. What happened? Are you okay?" He took a couple deep breaths before responding.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I—I went after them to try and get the plates." Lie. His thoughts were frantic, trying to search for a logical explanation for his actions without actually giving away what he was actually doing. They were going so fast, in fact, that Beth couldn't decipher anything that could explain his sudden appearance outside. It was something she had never encountered before.

"Wha—?" Iris started again before Barry cut her off.

"And I—I fainted."

Iris and Beth shared a look before helping Barry to his feet. The three of them headed back inside, the blonde internally cringing at the scolding she would be getting by her brother. She did follow him to an active crime scene after all.

Iris greeted Eddie and her dad first, "Hi."

"Iris," Eddie greeted back before spotting his sister. He clenched his teeth in frustration, "Bethany."

"Hey bro," the younger girl sheepishly greeted back.

"We have a lot to talk about later," he said sternly. Beth pursed her lips together. It was hard for her to control her actions since she woke up. She was incredibly bored all the time since she quit school and couldn't find a job under her major. She had brought up taking some classes in criminal justice to her brother, hoping that maybe she could get into forensic psychology and go all Criminal Minds but he quickly shot that idea down. He didn't want her anywhere near the action for fear that she would get hurt, just like how Detective West feared for Iris. But, he also didn't know about her abilities, which could be particularly useful as an officer. There was just so much holding her back. The secrets made it a lot harder. She wanted to tell Eddie but she just didn't know how to.

Eventually, she gave up on those idealistic dreams of being a hero, figuring that nothing was ever going to come of them. Despite the fact that her heroic dreams were crushed, her temptation to use her powers was still present, so she started using her abilities to her own advantage. It was obviously what fate had in store for her. Beth was burdened with the knowledge that she had the potential to do so much more, to help people, yet she would never actually get to do it. She was too busy trying to survive and make a living to become a vigilante like the Arrow.

Her thoughts were cut off when she heard her brother ask if Barry needed a paramedic. Barry insisted that he was fine. Beth on the other hand was quite worried for Barry. How could he be perfectly fine? He did just faint and collapse onto the concrete. He should at least have a bump on his head or something.

Again the blonde's thoughts were cut off as she heard the security guard, who was at the ceremony, talking, "I thought I was dead. I saw the gun go off, and then—boom. Suddenly I'm outside. I have no idea how I got there." Detective West pulled Barry aside shortly after we heard the security guard.

Neither Eddie nor Iris thought anything of it apparently but Beth heard Detective West start to ask Barry something. Just as she was about to look into their minds, or try to since her last attempt with Barry didn't work out so well, Eddie pulled her attention to him.

"What were you thinking following me here?" he asked angrily. "The robbery could have still been going on!"

"Relax, Eddie. I'm fine and the robbery was over by time I got here." Beth said trying to calm her brother down.

"It doesn't matter that it was over when you got here. What _matters_ is that you still came here, possibly putting yourself in danger. You didn't know whether or not it was over until you got here but you still came anyway."

"Eddie, stop treating me like a little girl. I'm twenty-four years old. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"You might not be a little girl anymore but you sure are acting like it. You're being reckless, Beth. And I can't have you randomly showing up at crime scenes and wandering through the station all the time. This is my job—," she decided to cut him off there, tired of his scolding.

"It would be my job too if you hadn't been so adamant about me not taking those extra classes. So don't act all high and mighty to me Eddie, because I want to do something in my life. You're just holding me back." Beth turned around and left the building, ignoring Eddie yelling after her. She needed to cool down before she said something stupid. Right now Eddie was the only one she had and she didn't want to jeopardize their relationship. But he was suffocating her. Little did she know that Barry had caught the end of their argument and it left him even more curious about the possible metahuman.

Barry sat on the examination table at S.T.A.R. Labs getting chewed out by Caitlin. He did feel bad about not telling them, especially now with how angry Caitlin was. The bio-engineer stormed out, Cisco spoke up, "Wow… I haven't seen anyone make her that angry since Ronnie."

"Ronnie was Caitlin's fiancé?" Barry asked. "The one that died the night of the accelerator explosion?"

"Yeah," Dr. Wells started, "He is… missed." After a solemn moment the doctor spoke up again, "Now… Let's figure out what's happening to you." Barry followed Dr. Wells out of the main lab and into a side room that held a large, odd looking treadmill.

"We're all set," Cisco said with a giddy look on his face. Barry, though, looked less that sure about the whole thing. "A little padding. Just in case," Cisco tried referring to the wall of cardboard boxes.

"You're sure about this, Cisco?" Barry said, voicing his doubt.

"Most home treadmills have a maximum speed of about twelve miles per hour," the engineered informed him. "This one has been Cisco'ed. Trust me it can handle your speed."

"Okay," the speedster said, giving in. Barry started running at impossible speeds seemingly effortlessly. Behind the glass, the threes scientists were going over all of his vital trying to figure out what was wrong.

"Caitlin," Dr. Wells started, having figured out the problem, "Look at the glucose levels."

The only female in the room looked down at her monitor before sighing, "Oh my god, of course."

"Right?"

"It was so obvious." The scientists spoke amongst themselves.

"Glucose levels. Barry! We think we know why you keep—," just as Dr. Wells was warning Barry, Barry fainted yet again. "—passing out."

Not too long after his fainting spell, Barry woke up on a cot in STAR Labs. "I passed out again?"

Caitlin, ever the one to be medically correct with her terminology, explained, "Total metabolic failure brought on by acute hypoglycemia."

"I'm not eating enough," Barry said, translating her medical mumbo jumbo. "So an IV bag and I'm good to go?"

Cisco couldn't hold back his chuckles. Dr. Wells entered then, "Try forty." Barry glanced at the stand the IV was hanging on, only to see empty bags stack on top of one another. "Guess you were thirsty," Dr. Wells stated, taking a drink to hide his laughter.

"We're gonna need to fashion you a new diet based on your metabolic changes," Caitlin informed.

Cisco then jumped in, "I've done a few calculations. You need to consume an amount equal to roughly 850 tacos. Unless we're talking cheese and guac, which is like a whole other set of equations."

Barry sighed. Of course when he had come to STAR Labs today, he had been concerned about the amount of fainting he had been experiencing. But, he also had wanted to ask them about Beth and whether or not they knew if she was a metahuman. The circumstances of her past matched his own; being affected by the storm and the coma. It could not just be a coincidence. The night she had went into a coma was the same night he had, the night the accelerator had exploded. Ever since then his life had been drastically different, but she seemed so normal.

"For Mexican, I recommend Tito's." As soon as Barry heard that voice, he knew he wasn't getting any answers today. Detective Joe West walked into the main lab. "On Bruckner Ave? Best burrito in the city."

"Detective West," Dr. Wells greeted. "What brings you to STAR Labs?"

The detective looked at Barry, "When I couldn't find you at your lab, I started doing a little research. Turns out there's been reports of a red streak around the city, stopping muggers, rescuing people from burning buildings."

Dr. Wells slowly turned towards Barry, "You didn't tell him we were working together?"

Barry shook his head slightly before looking down, "Joe, I can explain."

Joe cut him off. "You already have a job in law enforcement. I suggest you get back to it," he said sternly.

Caitlin made a noise in agreement and Joe shot her a look. "Don't look at me. I'm on your side."

Dr. Wells chose then to step in and help Barry. "Detective. We all want what's best for Barry."

The detective started to get angrier. "If you wanted what was best for Barry, you'd try to talk him out of this lunacy instead of encouraging him going out there risking his life."

Barry was tired of being scolded like a child. He went to stand up for himself, just as Beth had done hours earlier, "You saw a man control the weather. What are the police gonna do against someone like that? Since the accelerator explosion we suspect there may be more like him." Like us, he thought silently. Though he may not be committing crimes like Mardon had, Barry had powers too. They were both metahumans. Beth immediately entered his mind again. She could possibly be one too.

"And you're gonna do what?" Joe asked, crossing his arms. "Catch them? Are you insane? You think just because you can run real fast that you're invincible? You're not! You're just a kid. My kid."

Barry was done. "I'm not your kid, Joe. And you're not my father. My father's sitting in Iron Heights. Wrongfully convicted. You were wrong about him. And you're wrong about this. Now I may not be able to help him, but if I can save someone from a burning building or stop some armed thieves, I'm gonna do it. And you can't stop me. So don't try."

Joe looked at Barry, disappointed. "You think you're so smart." Then he looked at the rest of the room, "All of you. But you don't know what you don't know. And I hope that you're clever enough to figure it out before somebody gets killed." He took one last look at everyone before walking out. Barry sighed to himself. He knew Joe was just worried but he wouldn't let the detective hold him back.

Bethany leaned against a table in Jitters, watching her brother do his interview with the press on the television. He was being questioned about another attempt on Simon Stagg's life. Beth had call in sick to work without a problem. No one could argue with her charm. She had still needed some time to cool off after her argument with Eddie and knew that if she went to the nightclub, she'd be snapping at people all night.

Now she was in Jitters keeping iris company while she worked. The darker-skinned girl was standing next to her brother watching the interview as well. Eddie's quick stop into the coffee shop had turned into a little viewing party further frustrating the female Thawne. Of course he would show up while she was trying to ignore him. But she wasn't going to leave. Nope. She was there first.

Beth had a lot of feelings about what had occurred earlier with the second attempt to kill Simon Stagg. Eddie was a hero, but in turn, he put himself in danger. The blonde woman thought that was pretty hypocritical of him. Why should she be the one staying at home worrying every time he goes to work? It wasn't even like she wanted to be on the front lines! She wanted to analyze the criminals psychologically! But apparently even _that_ was too much for Eddie. The thought made her roll her eyes.

Her mental wallowing was cut off when Barry Allen entered the coffee shop. "Nice work, Eddie," he praised.

"Nah. Right place, right time," Eddie replied humbly.

Barry wasn't letting him off that easily though, "No, you were a hero today."

Though Barry came across as genuinely thankful and happy for Eddie, there seemed to be a sadness in his voice that Beth noticed. Curiosity got the better of her and she went to take a sneak peek into his mind.

Many of thoughts rushed through his head, none of which Beth could decipher yet again. She thought she may have been losing her touch so she glanced over at a guy sitting at a table by himself, tapping away at the keyboard of his laptop. His thoughts came to her easily. The young man was stressing about finishing his term paper that was due the next day. Shaking her head, the young blonde just couldn't figure out why she could not read Barry's mind.

He was turning out to be quite the enigma.

Eddie turned to the small group, getting ready to leave, "CCPD still has a killer on the loose. I should get back to the precinct." As him and Iris kissed goodbye, Barry's eyes were on the couple, the sadness now reaching them as well. But, Beth's eyes were on Barry, studying him and gauging his reaction. That was when it clicked for Beth. She didn't have to be a mind reader to realize that Barry had feelings for Iris, unrequited feelings. When Eddie pulled away from his girlfriend, he turned to his sister, about to give her a kiss on the head, but she dodged him, rejecting his brotherly affection.

He was not forgiven yet. She knew he had a reason to be peeved at her as well but his reasoning was hypocritical in her eyes. Until they had time to talk about it, she wouldn't let his kind heart break down her walls that she had up for the time being. Eddie looked down at her, hurt evident in his eyes as her awkwardly patting her arm instead.

She sighed, figuring she should at least say something, "Good luck." Giving him a weak smile, she left as Barry and Iris stood to the side witnessing the awkward exchange.

Beth was walking back to the apartment she shared with her brother. Since Eddie was at work, it would be a good sanctuary away from everything for the time being. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through her head. "Ah," she cried out. Stabilizing herself on the side of a building, she accepted the thoughts that were pounding on the wall in her mind, trying to get in.

Leaning against the wall, she gripped her head in her heads. None of the thoughts made sense. They were commands. Simple commands. Like the ones that normal brains were able to perform without putting any thought into it; ones that the body just naturally did. They were ordering _whoever_ to walk, run, stand, and the oddest one, duplicate. Normal minds don't form thoughts like that.

The thoughts were like a beacon though. They were leading her somewhere. Beth regained her balance and straightened up, trying to look like she wasn't having the world's worst migraine as she started towards the source of the thoughts. After about ten minutes, she came upon the Stagg Industries building. She started to approach the building but stopped in her tracks as she realized that the guards that were meant to be guarding the building were on the ground bleeding from the bullet wounds in their chests. She stepped back with a hand over her mouth in surprise. Obviously whoever's thoughts she was following was a very dangerous person.

That didn't stop her though. Against her better judgment, the blonde continued into the building. Now, she could hear gunshots and voices that weren't just in her head. As she maneuvered her way through the building, Beth stumbled multiple times. Her head was throbbing, the thoughts getting stronger as she got closer to the origin, causing her stumbling.

She snuck up the stairs to avoid detection from the assailant. The young woman wasn't quite sure what she was doing. What would she do when she finally got to the source? Was she going to stop the psycho killing machine that had managed to kill so many in such a small amount of time? No, she was just a twenty-four-year-old with _way_ too much insight on other peoples' lives who also happened to be able to _convince_ others to do things sometimes.

Realistically, the only thing she had going for her if confronted by the murdered was her 'charmspeak,' but that was only if she could calm herself down enough to use it, which judging by her racing heartbeat, she couldn't.

Beth eventually made it to the floor the thoughts were emitting from. She silently exited the stairwell and snuck into the room. She glanced around a desk and saw three men who looked identical aiming guns at Simon Stagg.

"Hello, Danton," Stagg greeted.

"Goodbye, Simon," the man in the middle, Danton, replied. Just as the trigger was pulled and Beth flinched, Stagg was gone, like he had never been there in the first place. The men scattered once Stagg disappeared. Beth ducked under the desk she had been hiding behind, hoping that they wouldn't see her and trying to keep calm in case she had to use her abilities.

The thoughts that had been just simple commands earlier now became more urgent making the pounding get worse. Beth curled in on herself, her clenched fists on her head, nails digging into the palms of her hands, and teeth gritting together. She tried to work through the pain and push the thoughts that were causing her such distress away so she could put her mental wall back up.

In the background, Beth could hear the fighting between Danton, his look-alikes, and some mysterious person who must have whisked Stagg away. Beth was then filled with anger and sadness. All the emotions Danton was feeling were being forced upon her as he explained himself to the mystery man, or woman. She had a feeling that the reason why his thoughts were so powerful was because they were being multiplied by his look-alikes.

Suddenly, all the pressure in her mind was gone. The feelings, the commands, everything ceased. Beth had been so focused on getting the foreign thought out of her mind that she was like a blank slate once they were gone. She quickly pieced together her own thoughts and put the wall in her mind back up. Slowly, she came out from under the desk, checking her surroundings for any sign of danger. She straightened up and let down her mental wall just a bit to listen for any sign of others. She could hear three different thought patterns, three different voices. One was Stagg, who was somewhere on the basement floor from what she could tell. The second was Danton who was significantly less overwhelming than he had been.

Just as she was about to listen in on the third, she heard the sound of glass shattering and a struggle. Without thinking, she rushed towards the sound. Beth turned a corner and saw a man in a bright red suit hanging halfway out the window. "Don't," the man in red said in a strained voice. Beth ducked back around the corner, trying to remain out of sight. It was then that Beth decided to look into the mind of the third man; the man in red.

The thoughts were frantic and muddled and she could only get bits and pieces. The jumbled thoughts confused her greatly. She didn't know what this meant. Beth had only ever encountered one other person whose mind mimicked the man in red's. Someone who she had just met that day.

"Barry?"

Everything seems to go back to normal after the night that Danton Black fell to his death. Beth, though, was burdened with the fact that she knew who the Red Streak was. Barry Allen was the Red Streak. He was the one zipping around the city saving people from burning buildings and stopping armed robberies.

Beth wanted to talk to him. She felt like she had to, yet she couldn't bring herself to go to the station.

So instead, she did what everyone else was doing. She tried to move on and let her life go back to normal.

Now, Beth was at work, though she wasn't actually working. She had more or less took it upon herself to party in the VIP section after _convincing_ her boss that it was okay for her to stay on the clock as she did so. Her coworkers glared at her in distain and jealousy as she did shots with Central City's elite. Well the kind of elite that spent their free time in nightclubs.

At the end of the night, she hitched a ride home with some guy who's name she couldn't even remember. Probably not the safest or smartest idea, but she had faith that even while inebriated, she could handle herself well enough. The guy leaned in to try to kiss her goodnight, but she had already opened the door to get out. He fell forward onto the seat where she had been sitting, causing her to burst into laughter as she slammed the door shut.

Treading carefully, making sure not to trip over the curb of the sidewalk, she made it into the building and eventually up to her and Eddie's apartment. Her previously obnoxious laughter had died down into soft giggles as she replayed the kiss fail in her head.

Apparently, she was not as sneaky as she thought she was though. Just as she had closed the door to the apartment, the lights turned on. The blonde narrowed her eyes in confusion as to how the lights turned on without her doing anything. Turning around, Beth's eyes landed on her brother who was giving her a disapproving look.

"Where were you?" he questioned her, his arms crossed over his chest.

"At work," she answered simply, tossing her purse onto the kitchen island as she tried to pass him. He grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her to face him.

The sudden jerk of him turning her caused her to wobble a bit where she stood. "Really? Then why are you wasted?"

"Because Moe let me off early and some guys asked me to party with them and I had nothing better to do."

"Oh. And what were these guys' names?" he tested her.

Beth pulled away from him, groaning in frustration. She couldn't answer that question and he knew that. "What is with the twenty questions? No. You know, I'm not doing this right now." She started to walk towards her room and this time Eddie didn't try and stop her.

"What happened to you Beth?" he muttered, exasperatedly. Beth stopped in her tracks. "Ever since you woke up after the accident, I hardly recognize you. It's like you're a completely different person."

She turned towards him one last time and gave him a sardonic smirk before slurring, "You're right. I'm better."

* * *

 **Hey, so this isn't a true update, I know. But, I just realized that I hadn't specified my characters in my summary thing so people could find this story more easily. Also, chapter 2 is about 2/3 done. I plan on hopefully finishing it on Monday so I can edit and post it! Enjoy everyone!**


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